Two Lines

twenty six

His back was stiff, tired from travelling for more than three hours in a car. Though the car was plush and comfortable enough to be a cradle for baby, he felt uneasy.

Mumbai to Sriharikota. Screw myself.

He was unsure. He felt foolish to travel so long, to have a flight journey from Mumbai to Sriharikota, an island filled with strangers and geniuses. Maybe geniuses.

And what would he do if she asks 'who the fuck are you?'

Yes, undoubtedly screw myself.

With all his confusions, he landed to the place where Mrs. Ghosh addressed as her resident. And with all those confusions he dared to enter employees hostel.

"Yes, who are you?"

A Santa-Claus-looking-like-security asked him. The fat man looked too soft for being a security guard.

"I want to meet Miss. Kanak Ghosh."

"Are you Bhaskar?"

He was startled. He took a step back and focused on the man in front of him.

"What did you say?"

His voice was slow, it was like a meek kid asking for permission to have more chocolates. He felt like a kid.

"Are you Mr. Bhaskar Gayakwad?"

His fame of being a good architect couldn't reach Sriharikota. And even if it reached, a simple security couldn't know about it. His father's fame could be reached to the isolated island but no one would connect it to him. Or maybe he was wrong.

"Why do you think I am Bhaskar?"

Santa Claus laughed. Bhaskar would have looked like a kid to him, because he himself thought so.

"Three years here, no one came to meet Miss. Kanak." He tapped the wall next to him, "I asked her once about her parents and her reply was enough."

"What did she reply?" words were choked, clogged his world. Bhaskar stepped near to guard with a pleading look, "What was--"

"If ever a man comes here to meet me, he would be Mr. Bhaskar Gayakwad. There's no one who would come after this bitch."

The stare of Santa Claus was intense, it felt like he could connect to innermost unknown depths of Bhaskar, "And my long years spent in Indian Army makes me understand the human nature."